A study led by Dr. Matthew M. Davis at the University of Michigan found that many parents underestimate their children's weight and overall health. The study was conducted using an online survey in which parents reported their children's height and weight and asked parents if their children were overweight or obese.

"Among parents with an obese, or extremely overweight child ages 6 to 11, 43 percent said their child was 'about the right weight', 37 percent responded 'slightly overweight' and 13 percent said 'very overweight'."

Dr. Goutham Rao of the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh noted that obesity is more difficult to identify in children, and that - because of the social stigma - some parents simply aren't willing to admit that their children are overweight.

Labels: overweight, parenting, pediatricians

Spending more time in physical education classes helps overweight girls, according to a study funded by the National Center for Health Care Management.

Researchers kept track of the heights, weights and body mass indexes (BMIs) of 9750 children from kindergarten through first grade. In kindergarten, the majority of children spent 35 minutes a week in physical education. By first grade that increased to 68 minutes a week. Overweight girls and girls at risk for overweight benefited the most from the increase - they reduced their BMIs by a statistically significant amount. However, the extra time in physical education classes did not have much effort on overweight boys’ or normal weight children’s measurements.

Because of this study, Dr. Ashlesha Datar and her co-author Dr. Roland Sturm concluded that if all kindergarteners in the United States got at least five hours of physical education per week, the prevalence of overweight among girls would decrease by 4.3 percentage points (43%), and the prevalence of children at risk for overweight would decrease by 9.2 percentage points (60%). Currently only 16% of kindergarteners have physical education every day.

This was one of the first and only studies that proves increased time in physical education may help fight America's obesity epidemic among children.

This study appears in the American Journal of Public Health, September 2004 issue.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, overweight, teens